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Children Sentenced to Life

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibited a life sentence without the possibility of release from prison for juveniles. Amnesty International said that the United States of America are the only country in the world, which sentences to life imprisonment minors without the right to parole.

In the US, the punishment of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole can be applied to children as instructive punishment, without taking into account the accompanying conditions such as a history of violence and trauma in the family, the degree of participation in the crime, mental condition or a susceptibility to rehabilitation.

In May 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States warned that life imprisonment without parole is extremely rigid punishment for minors, for the simple reason that on average they spend in prison more years than adult offenders.

18 months after the ban of the use of this form of punishment for persons under 18 years old, if the offense has not caused the victim’s death, the US Supreme Court has agreed to conduct an audit in respect to offenses not related to murders. According to the organization, The Sentencing Project, about 2,500 people are currently serving a life sentence for crimes they committed as children.

In its report, Amnesty International demanded that the US authorities review more than 2,500 cases in order to bring them into line with international law.

In this respect, the organization reminded that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which entered into force 20 years ago, clearly forbids the conviction of children who are younger than 18 years old to life imprisonment without the right to parole, regardless of the severity of the crime. The Convention has been ratified by all countries except the United States and Somalia.

Dominic Culpepper was 15 years old when in 2002 he was sentenced to life in prison for beating to death another teenager. His mother believes that the judiciary should deal with the rehabilitation of children, rather than condemn them to a life and death behind bars.

In 2012, the US Supreme Court banned the forced life in prison without parole for children under 18 years of age as contrary to the Constitution. Nevertheless, at the state level judges still have the right to give the children a life sentence.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibited a life sentence without the possibility of release from prison for juveniles. Amnesty International said that the United States of America are the only country in the world, which sentences to life imprisonment minors without the right to parole.